and
the other Oriental in psychic nature, but solely because of diverse
moral views, aims, and conduct.

It is not the contention of these pages, however, that intimate
friendships between Occidental and Oriental Christians are as easily
formed as between members of two Occidental nations. Although common
views of life, and common moral aims and conduct may provide the
requisite foundations for such intimate friendships, the diverse
methods of thought and of social intercourse may still serve to hinder
their formation. It is probably a fact that missionaries experience
greater difficulty in making genuine intimate friendships with
Japanese Christians than with any other race on the face of the globe.
The reasons for this fact are manifold. The Japanese racial ambition
manifests itself not only in the sphere of political life; it does not
take kindly to foreign control in any line. The churches manifest this
characteristic. It is a cause of suspicion of the foreign missionary
and separation from him; it has broken up many a friendship. Intimacy
between missionaries and leading native pastors and evangelists was
more common in the earlier days of Christian work than more recently,
because the Japanese church organization has recently developed a
self-consciousness and an ambition for organic independence which have
led to mutual criticisms.

Furthermore, Japanese Christians are still Japanese. Their methods of
social intercourse are Oriental; they bow profoundly, they repeat
formal salutations, they refrain from free expression of personal
opinion and preference. The crust of polite etiquette remains. The
foreigner must learn to appreciate it before he can penetrate to the
kindly, sincere, earnest heart. This the foreigner does not easily do,
much to the detriment of his work.

And on the other hand, before the Oriental can penetrate to the
kindly, sincere, and earnest heart of the Occidental, he must abandon
the inferential method; he must not judge the foreigner by what is
left unsaid nor by slight turns of that which is said, but by the
whole thought as fully expressed. In other words, as the Occidental
must learn and must trust to Oriental methods of social intercourse,
so the Oriental must learn and must trust to the corresponding
Occidental methods. The difficulty is great in either case, though of
an opposite nature. Which has the greater difficulty is a question I
do not attempt to solve.

Another generaliz